PSYCHOLOGIST //
SHAIFALI SANDHYA, PH.D. | PSYCHOLOGIST
Dr. Shaifali Sandhya is a US and UK-trained psychologist. She earned a PhD in Human Development and Psychology from The University of Chicago, US as a Mellon Fellow and an MA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge, UK as a Cambridge Commonwealth Fellow and Rajiv Gandhi Fellow.
As a professor of Clinical Psychology, Dr. Sandhya has taught courses on international mental health, gender, and health disparities in marginalized populations to doctoral students. The author and editor of research articles, books, and chapters, she has conducted interviews with the media and briefed state officials, local legislators, and federal judges to provide independent assessments of the social and mental health impacts on varied topics such as asylum and immigration, environmental resources, and community health. Dr. Sandhya's work has been featured in international media including the New York Times, Fox TV, CBS, US News and World Report and National Public Radio. Dr. Sandhya is an expert couple and family therapist and an internationally acclaimed book author. Her previous book Love will Follow: Why the Indian Marriage is Burning was published by Penguin Random House.
Dr. Sandhya's training is informed by a systems way of thinking or how broader influences of society and its constructs (race, gender, ethnicity, patriarchy), childhood, or attachments, and more can influence our psyche and current-day concerns. She also utilizes cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, couples therapy, family therapy, and psychoanalysis at different stages of the treatment, based on need. Her clinical areas of expertise are:
- biracial and intercultural couples, and families
- physicians and health providers
Over the course of twenty years, Dr. Sandhya has collaborated with hundreds of couples and families across cultures on rebuilding their relationships. She has treated physicians from different specialties and in different settings across their life-span.
In her spare time, Dr. Sandhya researches the effects of psychological trauma in refugees and asylum seekers war-torn countries on their resettlement in host countries. She also conducts research on global mental health issues of indigenous and international families and factors impacting their well-being.
She is the Chair of the American Psychological Association's Division 52, International Committee of Women (2021-2023). She is also on the Steering Committee of the Ryan Licht Sang Bipolar Foundation, a foundation dedicated to fostering awareness, understanding, and research for early-onset Bipolar Disorder.
More on Dr. Sandhya can be found below as well as on Psychology Today, an online magazine for psychology topics.
Past Experience
In the past, Dr. Sandhya has provided psychotherapy at hospitals and health centers in Chicago, Illinois such as The University of Chicago Hospitals, The Chicago Center for Family Health, The Family Institute at Northwestern University, and Columbia Michael Reese Hospitals. At The University of Chicago, Dr. Sandhya taught classes on International mental health and health disparities to undergraduates.
Associations and Publications
Dr. Sandhya has presented at several academic conferences around the world and at local women's organizations, such as the International Women's Associates of Chicago. Dr. Sandhya has served as a peer-reviewer for academic journals such as Culture, Health, and Sexuality and the Journal of Marriage and Family. She is a Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society.
Select Publications:
Sandhya, S. (Upcoming, 2023). Title to be announced. Topic: Refugees. Publisher: Oxford University Press.
Sandhya, S. (2020). Love will follow: Making love and intimacy work in Indian couples. Second Edition.
Sandhya, S. (2020). The Glocal family: Exploring its international variations using a family systems framework. Invited book chapter for The Handbook of Systemic Family Therapy. Edited by Karen S. Wampler, Richard B. Miller, Ryan B. Seedall, Lenore M. McWey, Adrian J. Blow, Mudita Rastogi, and Reenee Singh.
Sandhya, S. (2009). Love will follow: Why the Indian marriage is burning. India: Random House. ISBN9788184000429
Synopsis: Love Will Follow is a cultural and clinical portrait that explores the family life of modern-day Indian families; using qualitative and quantitative measures, it assesses mental health functioning in families and highlights specific social and psychological factors impacting the health of couples and children in an urbanizing India.
Sandhya, S. (2009). The social context of marital happiness in urban Indian couples: Interplay of intimacy and conflict. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy 35 (1): 74-96. doi: 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2008.00103.x.
Outreach and Advocacy
Dr. Sandhya's outreach and advocacy efforts include:
1. Mental Health of Syrian. Iraqi and Afghani refugee seekers
For Refugees, Trauma Runs Deep: 'Nobody Knows my Heart Is Crying'
2. Testifying towards Ordinance 16-1983 for the safe disposal of pharmaceutical drugs. Unused and expired medications that accumulate at home can contribute to accidental poisonings and overdoses, and the majority of teenagers who abuse prescription drugs began doing so from their family medicine cabinet. Providing safe, secure, and readily accessible collection sites for people to dispose of their unused and expired medications - including prescription opioid painkillers - is a matter of public safety, public health, and environmental protection. The Cook County Board of Commissioners is currently considering an ordinance (Proposed Ordinance #16-1983) governing the safe disposal of pharmaceuticals in Cook County. This measure will build upon and expand an existing collection program administered by the Cook County Sheriff's Department, to eliminate "collection deserts" in Cook County and to require pharmaceutical manufacturers to pay a modest fee to support the free and accessible collection of unwanted or expired pharmaceuticals for all County residents. The Sheriff's Department, in conjunction with a public advisory committee, will enforce and oversee the implementation of the ordinance.
Personal Interests
Dr. Sandhya's interests are rowing, animal well-being, and refugee mental health. At Trinity College, she was a cox for Trinity’s First and Third Boat Club, and during the May and Lent bumps on the river Cam raced her crew to victory. In Michaelmas 1994, she was the first debater to open the floor at the Cambridge Union Society, founded in 1815 and the oldest running debating society in the world. At Delhi University, while earning her undergraduate degree in Psychology, she was a University Topper in her second year and one of two University toppers in her final year. She was also awarded the College All-Round Excellence trophy by the then Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh.
